Hard to believe that Mr Eagling is sixty as in my mind's eye I still remember him as that pale, slender youth with the blond curls whom I will always rate as my perfect Romeo.

A timely reminder at the end of the interview that the top job at the Royal Ballet is once again up for grabs and although I am without any doubts that Wayne Eagling would be the ideal man for the job, he is doing such incredibly good work at ENB that I'm actually in two minds as to whether I would like him to leave for the RB or not.

Rumours about Monica Mason's successor abound right now. Perhaps we should have poll to find out who the fans would like.

I also attended the Friday matinee that Ismene brown went to and it was very clearly more of a preview than a premiere. Scene changes in particular did not look right and the 'transformation ' pas de deux looked clumsy and under-rehearsed, hopefully these glitches will sort themselves out as there were some good things in the ballet and if a few small alterations could be made this version could prove a great deal more popular than the production it replaces.

The opening with the guests arriving on roller blades cleverly disguised as ice skates seemed to win everyone over and I'm pleased that Eagling has incorporated the famous Vainonen choreography into the snowflakes scene but not pleased that Vainonen doesn't get a mention in the programme. I was less happy with the Mirlitons which looked liked some in-joke about an Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman and was puzzled as to just what the homo-erotic/sadomasochistic Arabian dance was actually about other than proving what a compassionate person Clara is when she releases the Arab's male slave: in general though I was fairly happy about Eagling’s choreographic additions.

Elena Glurjidze and Arionel Vargas were the leading couple and the last act pas de deux was a thing of wonder with Glurjidze’s rare musicality transforming everything she did into spine-tingling beauty with her partner, Vargas, giving a more polished performance than I have seen from him for some time. The corps de ballet were lovely as snowflakes and even lovelier in the Waltz of the Flowers and although the afternoon wasn’t perfect I look forward to seeing this Nutcracker at some future date when I’m sure that necessary improvements will have been made.

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